This #1 New York Times Bestseller chronicles the 54 harrowing minutes of a school shooting and follows four students who must confront their greatest hopes, and darkest fears, as they come face-to-face...

This #1 New York Times Bestseller chronicles the 54 harrowing minutes of a school shooting and follows four students who must confront their greatest hopes, and darkest fears, as they come face-to-face...

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This #1 New York Times Bestseller chronicles the 54 harrowing minutes of a school shooting and follows four students who must confront their greatest hopes, and darkest fears, as they come face-to-face with the boy with the gun.

10:00 a.m.The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

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From the book

Chapter One

10:0110:02 A.M.

CLAIRE

The starter gun shatters the silence, releasing the runners from their blocks.

Track season starts in a couple weeks, but no one has told Coach Lindt about winter. He's convinced that the only way to get us into shape is to practice-even when my breath freezes right in front of me.

This is Opportunity, Alabama. Sane people don't leave their homes when it's white and frosty outside. We stock up on canned food, drink hot chocolate until we succumb to sugar comas, and pray to be saved from the cold.

Still, Coach Lindt's start-of-season training beats Principal Trenton's long and arduous start-of-semester speech-virtue, hard work, and the proper behavior of young ladies and gentlemen. After almost four years at Opportunity High, I can recite her words from memory, which is exactly what I did for Matt at breakfast this morning-responsibility, opportunity ("no pun intended"), and her favorite, our school motto: We Shape the Future.

It sounds glorious, but with months left until graduation, I have no clue what the future looks like. If Opportunity shaped me, I didn't notice. Running, I know. This track, I know. One step after another after another. It doesn't matter what comes next as long as I keep moving forward.

My foot slips, and I stumble.

From his position on the field, Coach curses. "Claire, attention! One misstep's the difference between success and failure."

Straightening, I refocus.

A familiar laugh colors the still morning. "Did you freeze up over holiday break, Sarge? A snail could catch up with you floundering like that." On the straightaway of the track, Chris falls into step with me.

I suck in a breath before I answer him. "Oh, shut up."

My best friend only laughs louder. The even rhythm of his footsteps and his breathing challenge me to find my pace. His presence steadies me like it always does. At six-foot-five and with sun-touched hair and blue eyes, Chris is not just our best runner but also Opportunity's poster-boy athlete. On uniform days, the freshman girls fawn over him.

With Chris by my side, my stride shortens. The other two runners on our varsity team are far behind us, on the other side of the field. Chris and I move in perfect synchrony, and the very air parts before us.

Nothing can touch us. Not snow. Not even time.

TOMÁS

Time's up. The small clock on the bookshelf strikes ten with an annoying little tune, and I thumb through the tabs in front of me at supersonic speed. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.

It only took superglue-strategically squirted on the desk drawers of my favorite Spanish teacher, Mr. Look-At-Me-Strutting-My-Stuff-Like-A-Walking-Midlife-Crisis-for Far and me to find our way to the administrative office. But it took both our student IDs before we managed to jiggle the lock on Principal Trenton's door. And it'll all be for nothing if I can't find the file I'm looking for. I scan the folders in the filing cabinet. When an elbow pokes my side, I startle. "Dammit, Far. What the hell?"

Fareed rolls his eyes and gestures for me to keep quiet. Someone's in the hallway, he mouths. He tiptoes back to the door.

Crap.

How do I explain this? "No, ma'am, I'm not doing anything, just breaking into school records"?

Whatever. I'm sure I have a legal right to see my own permanent record, so I can always use that as my excuse. The fact that these folders just...

About the Author-

Marieke Nijkamp is a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, geek. She holds degrees in philosophy, history, and medieval studies, and is an executive member of We Need Diverse Books, the founder of DiversifYA, and a founding contributor to YA Misfits. She lives in the Netherlands. Visit her at mariekenijkamp.com.

Reviews-

November 2, 2015Sometimes the most terrifying horrors are not those involving monsters out of fantasy but those taken straight from today’s headlines. Nijkamp’s debut follows four high school students on their first day of the spring semester in Opportunity, Ala. Over the course of 54 minutes—the amount of time a gunman holds their school hostage—their lives collide. Each of the four has an intimate connection to the shooter, and all must find a way to face the unfolding tragedy. While Claire views the event from outside the school, Autumn, Sylv, and Tomás are on the front lines. Love, loyalty, bravery, and loss meld into a chaotic, heart-wrenching mélange of issues that unite some and divide others. A highly diverse cast of characters, paired with vivid imagery and close attention to detail, set the stage for an engrossing, unrelenting tale. The starkly chilling realism and themes of abuse, death, and assault, among others, may prove too much for younger or sensitive readers, but the story unquestionably leaves an indelible mark. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Udden, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

October 15, 2015A minute-by-minute account of mass murder at a high school by a former student. Four students from a range of different backgrounds at Alabama's Opportunity High, all of whom have a history with Tyler, the gunman, take turns telling this harrowing story in the first person. They include his sister, Autumn, and her clandestine girlfriend, Sylv, who have only each other for solace as the home lives of both are in upheaval. Tomas, Sylv's brother, recounts his and his friend Fareed's desperate efforts to help from outside the school's auditorium, where their fellow students and teachers are locked in with Tyler as he picks them off one by one. Finally, Claire, Tyler's ex-girlfriend, realistically agonizes over what to do when she and a few others outside running track realize that the gunshots they hear are coming from inside the school. Grounded in the present, the story makes effective use of flashbacks that lay bare the pain and deception that have led up to the day's horror. The language can occasionally feel a bit melodramatic, with lines like "we're fighting for hope and a thousand tomorrows," but this is a minor side note to this compelling story of terror, betrayal, and heroism. This brutal, emotionally charged novel will grip readers and leave them brokenhearted. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-It's the start of the spring semester at Opportunity High School in Opportunity, AL, and the school day is progressing as normal-until one revenge-minded student brings violence to this sleepy, close-knit community. This novel takes place over the course of 54 tense minutes, as four main characters (all of whom also conveniently have siblings affected by the shooting) narrate their harrowing experiences and consider their relationships with the shooter. Nijkamp populates Opportunity High School with a diverse representation of students, enriching the book with their varied experiences and reactions to the horrifying turn of events. The four main narratives are joined by text messages, tweets, and blog entries interspersed throughout, allowing for more viewpoints and commentary without narrative clutter. Although the work is devastating, it offers a small moment of optimism and closure at the end without resorting to an incongruous tidy ending. VERDICT With a thrilling narrative, topical subject matter, and diverse characters, this is a first purchase for libraries serving teens.-Susannah Goldstein, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

astronaut - this book is tragic, and amazing at the same time. It makes you want to cry and smile... and then cry some more. Told from four different views of a school shooting, its wonderful!

Publishers Weekly
"Love, loyalty, bravery, and loss meld into a chaotic, heart-wrenching mélange of issues that unite some and divide others. A highly diverse cast of characters, paired with vivid imagery and close attention to detail, set the stage for an engrossing, unrelenting tale."

The Horn Book Magazine
"With narration firmly rooted in the moment and smooth transitions in and out of flashbacks, each first-person account reveals an intricate web of betrayal and pain that connects the four to Tyler and the horror he has unleashed."

Bustle.com
"Marieke Nijkamp's brutal, powerful fictional account of a school shooting is important in its timeliness."

VOYA Magazine
"The core message and potential to open thoughtful discussion make this a solid choice for teen readers."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Harrowing first-person narrations reveal the way characters try to understand what is happening, where they are in relation to the emergency, and what they can do to save those they love... readable, gripping, and well balanced."

Paste Magazine
"You'll finish this book in a single evening, guaranteed."

Common Sense Media
"Intense and compelling, this debut novel balances the senseless violence of a school shooting with uncommon acts of courage and compassion by a diverse cast of characters."

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